Day 66 (11/11/17): so many people

Today was our monthly pick up of raw food at a McDonald's parking lot in Sacramento. I brought Terra along. I'd though that she would have a good experience walking around. I was wrong - there was a dog barking nearby, and a few people passed close by, and one person tried to toss her some treats to help but the throwing motion scared her. Major trigger stacking. Olga was there with her Great Dane, Spark, and I thought that seeing a friendly face would help. She sniffed Spark but her tail was tucked the whole time. Poor baby.

She got a nap to recover and then we met up with some dog-savvy volunteers to help with her socialization toward men. It was Jodi, her husband Ed, and another couple: Kristin and a second Ed. I was worried since she'd had a stressful morning. We took things nice and slow and it was a great session. She played tug with a stick with the first Ed, and licked his face all over while he pet her. She sat on the second Ed's lap. Unsurprisingly, she also fell into Jodi and Kristin's laps. Here she is with Kristin:

In the evening, Aaron came over. He's visited a few times since Terra came home but she's still more scared of him than anyone else who has come over. She barked when he approached the fence outside, and hid under my desk when we were indoors. For now, I'm having him just ignore her and give her time. Calling her or trying to interact with her with would just stress her more.

Day 27 (10/07/17): downtown Davis, another male guest

The client dog with separation anxiety was back for another training stay, and this time Terra initiated play with him! Yay! It was short because she tired out quickly and he was a little awkward.

Greeting the owner. (She's met him a few times now.)

Toward evening we drove to downtown Davis and parked by Central Park. We walked along the park and then down the commercial strip. Terra is continuing to improve in her comfort level with strangers. She still sometimes retreated and/or hid, and sometimes just slightly moved away from people, but there were more times that she passed them neutrally, and many more times that she leaned toward people as they passed! Yaaaay! She was still scared of any person or thing who was out of the ordinary, such as homeless people sitting by the sidewalk, and a humanoid statue. She showed curiosity toward every dog we passed. She wanted to go into a few stores. She got into the groove of just walking along right by my side. I use the leash to control her as little as possible, and she makes it easy by being very responsive to light pressure.

Passing through this narrow section was scary for her and took a few tries.

Leash looks tight here but it was loose 90% of the time.

On the way home.

My friend Aaron came over, and as he is big and tall, she hid from him. I told him to ignore her, rather than having him sit down and be available, since her fear level was higher compared to most of my other male guests. After a while she laid down and ignored him, and was comfortable going into the crate right next to him. She never approached him.